


You Watch My Back, I'll Watch Yours

by TuckerPuppy (HarleyD)



Category: Oz (TV)
Genre: Drabble, Fluff, Friendly bonding, Gen, M/M, One Shot, Ryan and Toby Friendship, Ryan is always planning, Season 3, Snippet, Toby just wants a friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 15:51:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9499043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarleyD/pseuds/TuckerPuppy
Summary: Takes place during Season 3.  O'Reily need someone to help him keep an eye on Cyril, someone that he can trust, and Toby will take any friends he can get.   Just a fluffy snippet or Ryan and Beecher bonding.





	

            Ryan jogged into Em City, trying to keep his panic under wraps.  He hadn’t meant to take so long to get back, he had been held up with a deal, and he scanned the room looking for Cyril.  His pulse sped up when he didn’t see him, they had been so close to Em City when he got pulled away.  He couldn’t have wandered far, he must have come back. 

            He wasn’t in their pod and he stopped one of the hacks walking by, “Where’s my brother?”

            The hack looked annoyed and motioned to the pods in the back, “He went that way with someone.”

            Fuck.  Whoever it is was going to fucking die if they were hurting his brother, if they were messing with him.  He broke out into a full sprint heading towards the run of pods.  From the common room he couldn’t see anything and it wasn’t until he was there that it finally sunk in whose pod was over there. 

            Relief flooded him, and he headed straight for it, yanking the door open.  Cyril startled from where he was sitting in the chair in front of a small chest they were using as a table.  Toby didn’t startle as he looked up, and it looked like they were playing go fish.  Out of all the fucks in Oz that he would trust with his brother, he was looking at the only one.

            Beecher met his eyes but looked away submissively, and that last round with Keller and Schillinger had really done him in.

            “Toby.”

            “He was in the hallway, I brought him in here to play cards till you came back.”

            Cyril was looking back and forth like he thought he might be in trouble and Ryan moved forward to squeeze his shoulder, “You can always go with Toby, he’s our friend.  We can trust him.”

            The frown that had been working its way on his face disappeared and he smiled, happy that he had done something right.  Ryan turned his eyes to Beecher, “Thanks Toby, I owe you one.”

            Toby glanced up at him and looked to Cyril, giving him a smile as he played a card.  “You took care of me.”

            Suddenly, an opportunity arose that he’d be dumb to pass up.  He had to keep an eye on his brother all the time and it cut into his business.  He sat on the bed next to Beecher and threw an arm around his shoulders like he had all those times when Beecher was Vern’s prag, but he froze when Beecher cringed away from it.  Slowly he slid his arm from his shoulders, tilting his head when Beecher gave him an apologetic look.

            “I can still take care of you, you know.”

            “Threes.”

            “Go fish.”  Beecher turned his head towards Ryan and looked embarrassed, “I don’t do drugs anymore.”

            “I’m not talking about drugs, I’m talking about you needing protection.”

            He wasn’t sure what his tone sounded like but Toby gave him a startled look and mumbled out, “I don’t do that anymore either.”

            It took long seconds watching Beecher and his brother play before he realized what he was saying and he threw his hands up.  “Jesus Beecher, I don’t fucking mean _that_.”  He couldn’t help it as he reached out to give him a little shove, “Come on man, you know better than that.”

            Beecher wouldn’t look at him, and Ryan glanced at Cyril before he leaned in close, lowering his voice.  “You know I wouldn’t do that Beecher.  I never have, especially not after what happened to Cyril, right?”

            “Then what do you want O’Reily?”

            The tension had eased from Beecher’s shoulders at least, and a glance at Cyril said he was watching them carefully, trying to figure out what was going on.  “Ryan?”

            “It’s okay Cyril.”

            “What do you want O’Reily?”  Beecher sounded tired, wore out.

            “You just hang out with Cyril, keep an eye on him.  And I’ll do the same for you.”

            Beecher looked at him for a long moment before he grinned at Cyril and held out the cards.  “You win, man.”

            “I won.”  Ryan reached out to pat Cyril’s shoulder and then moved to his feet, “Come on Cyril, let’s go watch Miss Sally.”

            Cyril stood up, but Ryan hesitated.  “Go on, I’ll be right there.  I’m just going to talk to Beecher.”

            Cyril nodded and smiled at Beecher, “Bye Toby.”

            “Bye Cyril.”

            Once he was gone Ryan looked back to Beecher, finally reaching out to bump against his chin to get him to look up from the ground.  “They fucked you up bad, huh?”

            “I’ll keep an eye on him.”  Beecher licked his lips and shrugged his shoulders, “I appreciate anything you can do for me, but I’d help anyways.  No one deserves to be left to Vern’s whim.”

            For a moment a long past pang of guilt made itself known, the same one Ryan had felt when he watched Vern humiliate Toby, watched him fuck him, and did nothing about it.  He could give him tits, he could cheer him up during the day when Schillinger was gone, but at the end of the day he didn’t do anything to help him.  And he had wanted to.  Rarely did he do anything that wasn’t for himself but when he had walked in that pod to see the other man crying, he wished he had done some things different.

            He leaned against the door, “You didn’t deserve it either.  I should have done something.”

            A small smile pulled at Beecher’s mouth, “Nothing you could have done.  You were my only friend here.”

            “You’ll keep an eye on Cyril?”

            “Sure, Ryan.” 

He nodded towards the tv, “Come on, come watch with us.”  They both headed towards the tv area and when Ryan put his arm around Beecher’s shoulders, he didn’t pull away this time, and Ryan couldn’t help the grin.  Things were already looking up. 

 

            Later that night in their pod Cyril was at the glass, looking at something and Ryan glanced up.  “What you doing Cyril.”

            “I like Toby.”

            “Yea, he’s a good guy.  He’ll be a good friend for us.”

            Cyril was quiet for a moment and then spoke again, voice softer, “That man, in the dreams, he hurt Toby too.”

            Ryan was surprised that he knew that, that he had put it together but he nodded, “Yea, he did.”

            That rare glance of something more flashed in Cyril’s eyes, a shadow of his old self and he looked back out the door, “I don’t like that man.  I don’t like him at all.  I want him to go.”

            And just like that it was gone and Cyril was back to himself, back in the pod and trying to get Ryan to play cards and Ryan couldn’t help but chuckle at that.  “Oh Cyril, don’t worry brother.  He’s going to get his.”  He dealt out the cards and nodded to himself.  It was long past when Vern’s time should be up, and Ryan had plans. 


End file.
